Hi everyone! This is my first post although I've been lurking for a long time now. :) I have been researching Cavaliers for over a year, and am now finally bringing home a puppy! She is a 5 month old Blenheim pup, coming to me from a rehome situation. She was initially supposed to be exported to another country to be shown and titled, but those plans fell through. After that she was placed with a family, however, the mom has developed severe allergies and their only option is to give her up.

I have been in contact with the puppy's breeder since February, and have been waiting for a pup, so I'm really excited! He was the one who put me in touch with the family who adopted this pup. I will be picking her up tomorrow evening, and so wanted to get some tips from all of you.

I have another dog already, a 2-year old Papillon (Paps and Cavaliers are my favourite breeds, along with Kooikerhondjes. Can you tell I like spaniels? :D). He is neutered, and is very friendly and playful. I think he's been kind of lonely being the only dog for so long (I brought him home at 11 weeks) so he will be very happy to have a buddy to play with!

OK, on to questions...

Should I bring my older dog along with me to pick the puppy up? I will be driving alone, not sure if it'll be a big problem driving with 2 dogs. I'm thinking about placing the pup in a crate on the back seat, as she is not used to car rides and I don't want her to freak out. My dog is very good with car rides as I seem to always be chauffeuring him around =D Alternatively, I can strap both of them with their harnesses to the back seat.

The pup's owners say that she is pretty reliable with toilet training (they paper trained her), however, I want to train her to do her business outside only, which is what I trained my Papillon to do. I am gone from 8.20am till 6.45pm everyday. My neighbour comes over in the afternoon to let the dogs out for 15-30 mins to play/do their business/etc. I don't really like crating for so many hours; what I'm thinking of doing is getting an x-pen with her crate inside, plus lots of toys and water. Should I leave pee pads down just in case she needs them? The x-pen will be in the guest room where my dog is confined when I'm not home. I never give him full reign of the house because I'm terrified that he might get into something dangerous and hurt himself, so the guest room is dog-proofed. At what age do you think the pup will be OK to be left uncrated in the room with my other dog?

Anyhow, sorry for the novel, I'm kind of nervous! I'm kind of glad that the pup is 5 months old and not an 8-week old puppy though, lol. I find raising baby puppies so much harder. My dog whom I'd gotten at 11-weeks drove me up the wall with his incessant accidents/whining/crying/barking. I had no sleep for a good 2 weeks.